Learning to Negotiate
by Purplerhino
Summary: Part #4 of the “Learning” Series. Oneshot. Glitch/Scraps, Cain/DG. One bad word. Summery:"I am not an idiot!"


Title: Learning to Communicate

It was the commotion that got Cain's attention first.

He'd gone outside, to relax under the open sky after a headache-inducing negotiation between Ahamo and the trade secretaries of two squabbling countries to the north. He was not looking forward to being the one in charge of situations like that. But he was learning. And who knew Tin Man interrogation techniques could come in handy with politics? Catching lies and subtle tells to help manipulate the situation worked just as well with ambassadors as with pimps and drug pushers.

So when a woman screamed he headed towards the noise. His heart thundering, envisioning an attack, an assault, someone bleeding from a horrible accident… only to find six people looking up at the castle.

Six floors up on the ledge, where the flat wall met the start of a turret, sat a figure legs crossed meditation style. The particular shade of wild red hair and the complete insanity of being out there meant it could only be one person.

The fact that there was a dark-haired man leaning out the nearest window obviously trying to get her to come back inside solidified the identity of the woman even if the ledge wasn't directly outside of Glitch's lab.

By the time he ran up there he was pretty much one of the last ones to arrive. Jeb already had guards clearing the area of spectators.

"What happened?" Cain noticed Frank Garelli had joined Glitch at the window.

"And if you don't get in here, little girl, I'm gonna have to shoot this idiot for sendin' ya out there in the first place." Garelli's shoulder-length, more salt than pepper hair was blowing around in the slight updraft along the side of the building. Comically, so was his mustache.

"I'm hardly an idiot!" Glitch was glaring.

"Comes to women ya are, boy." Garelli pointed out the window at Scraps.

"Prefer the pigeons. Better friends. Fly away honestly, all feathers and fluff." Scraps' voice called in from the window.

DG separated herself from the group of concerned friends.

"Look around." DG let her finger trace around Glitch's lab.

The place was… neat. Boxes lined the shelves, each carefully labeled, there were gears arranged by types then sizes on pegboard, books lined on the shelves apparently by subject then alphabetically by author, blueprints rolled up and neatly stacked. It looked like the place had even been dusted.

For a moment Cain wondered if he was actually in Glitch's lab. The disorganized piles of stuff were all cleared away. Order had come out of the chaos.

"Apparently, Scraps couldn't sleep last night and took to cleaning the lab as a surprise. Glitch was not too happy as supposedly HE knew were everything was. He yelled at her. She freaked, apparently fearful of getting hit or whipped, and ran out onto the ledge. Sounds like she's less afraid now and more pissed off." DG gave the short and dirty version.

Cain had to agree with Garelli: Glitch was an idiot.

"Did he apologize?" Cain looked hopefully at DG.

"Repeatedly," She nodded.

"Did he tell her he loved it and it was more practical?" Cain watched Glitch and Garelli start to argue over brains versus common sense.

"Pretty much. Even offered her chocolate cake." DG gave him a sidelong look, wondering how he'd react to that, apparently she was satisfied with his wince.

"She isn't a pet to be tempted with treats."

"Yup. He's pretty much fucked up big time. If I didn't know for a fact that she could get back inside while walking on her hands, I'd be worried." DG had seen Scraps walk along the stair banisters and do cartwheels on them. She'd been a circus performer as a child, they'd eventually deduced from observation and occasional flashes of the woman's memory.

"Gotta admit, this is much more interesting than OUR first fight." DG chuckled.

"Yet more trivial than you risking your life for a shopping trip." She'd actually pulled rank on him on that one and stormed out to do what she wanted anyway.

"Yeah, but you appreciated the lingerie that came from it."

Cain grunted. He was still not happy about that incident.

"You know, no matter how much an acrobat she is, Scraps could still fall to her death out there." Cain felt both concerned for Scraps' safety and sympathy for Glitch.

The former zipperhead was a complete rookie when it came to romantic relationships. Pair that up with a girlfriend who was slightly off kilter and had a brain that resembled a jigsaw puzzle and God only knew what disasters were bound to happen.

Cain crossed the room, grabbing a coil of cable from a peg as he went.

"You're gonna have to go out there and get her." Cain started to tie the cable around Glitch's waist.

The color drained from Glitch's face. "If this is some sort of therapy like DG dragging you off into closets for quickies, it is so not gonna work," he snapped back at Cain.

Cain didn't even blush. Hey, it was working. Slowly, but it was a therapy he wasn't about to argue with.

"I'll do it." Frank took hold of the cable.

Cain shook his head. "Nope. Gotta be Glitch. He's the one who frightened her out there where she was feeling safe knowing he wouldn't follow." He tied a sturdy knot in the safety line. "He's gotta prove he's sorry enough to do just that… follow."

"You suck at psychology." Glitch, though, didn't try to remove the cable.

"You're makin' me blush." Cain drawled. "Do ya love 'er?"

Glitch didn't even hesitate before nodding.

"Then you gotta learn: rule one - you're always at fault; rule two - she comes first; and rule three - if you aren't at fault see the first rule."

"Damn right." DG chorused in from the side, winking at Cain.

Cain rolled his eyes then pointed to the open window. "This is a rule two situation."

"There are some days I hate being a guy." Glitch muttered softly.

"Keep going the way you are and Scraps will eventually take care of that for you. With a screwdriver. Or Frank'll do it for her." Cain chuckled.

With a deep breath to fortify him, Glitch climbed out onto the ledge.

Ten minutes later he shakily returned with Scraps holding his hand. She was also holding a pigeon. She named the pigeon Bob and Glitch her servant for a week.

DG promised to remind her of both if Scraps should forget.


End file.
